As another generation's outliers put it, you're either on the bus or off the bus. Mobile's Prancing Elites dance troupe had to get off the bus in Wednesday night's episode of their reality show, but it turned out to be just a temporary setback.
In the ninth episode of Oxygen's "The Prancing Elites Project," the main story arc was that the dance troupe had been hired by a bride to provide entertainment at her Mardi Gras-themed wedding. It was a novel concept, even for the dancers: As flighty Adrian Clemons put it, "We have never done a wedding before. It's kind of like being a virgin."
"Well, clearly she doesn't have a traditional wedding if she's got gay people dancing at it," observed team captain Kentrell Collins.
While the bride, Mallory, was supportive, not everyone in the wedding party was - particularly when she tried to use the Elites as entertainers in the close quarters of a party bus during a "co-ed bachelorette party." Guests were conspicuously uncomfortable and the Elites felt rejected even though the bride stood up for them.
It wasn't a happy situation, and neither was the episode's secondary arc, which saw team member Tim Smith struggling to deal both with a breakup from a jealous boyfriend and with insensitivity from friends who kept referring to her as "he" or "him." "Being a transgender woman, I have to learn to grow tough skin, when you're in the world I'm living in, because people will say things," Smith said. "You just have to be ready to face the world."
But this is "The Prancing Elites Project," and a rebound is never far away. After another pep talk from Mallory, the group made a triumphant appearance at her wedding reception, drawing a much more favorable response from an audience including some of the same people who'd been on the bus.
Despite the happy note, hometown viewers likely experienced a sense of geographic dislocation. The location of the wedding was never spelled out, and producers used interstitial shots of Mobile scenery throughout the episode, including a suggestive look at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. But the pivotal party bus scene clearly took place in New Orleans - The ride started in front of St. Louis Cathedral - and the wedding itself presumably happened there as well.
There appears to be no such uncertainty about the setting for next week's episode: According to a preview glimpse, the Elites are headed for Los Angeles and a potentially high-stakes audition.
For previously aired episodes of the show, outtakes and other material, visit www.oxygen.com.